Labour’s civil war over transgender rights erupts over jibe at Rebecca Long Bailey 

Labour’s civil war over transgender rights descended into even deeper bitterness last night after one of Jeremy Corbyn’s senior aides called leadership hopeful Rebecca Long Bailey a ‘virtue-signalling coward’ for threatening to expel feminists from the party – and a crowdfunded legal challenge was mounted against the party.

Ms Long Bailey, the favoured candidate of the Corbynite Left, is one of several senior Labour figures who last week endorsed a controversial ‘trans equality’ manifesto calling for anyone with ‘transphobic’ views to be thrown out of the party.

But Lachlan Stuart, a personal friend of Corbyn who co-wrote the Labour manifesto, said Ms Long Bailey was ‘not fit to lead’ because of her views on trans.

‘I have publicly asked each of the endorsers of my accusers to specify the evidence of hate but, so far, none of the virtue signalling ill-informed cowards have responded,’ he said, referring to Long Bailey and fellow pro-trans leadership candidate Lisa Nandy.

A common complaint among Labour feminists is that trans- activists’ insistence that ‘transwomen are women’ means that lesbians are put under pressure to sleep with transgender women who retain their full male anatomy.

Mr Stuart said that Ms Long Bailey and Ms Nandy were effectively fuelling that problem, telling them: ‘You are a danger, especially to the young lesbians whose bullying and harassment you are now licensing. So you’re not getting my vote.’

It came as Labour was served with court papers over its policy of allowing anyone who says they are female to stand as a candidate on an all-women shortlist. 

Campaigners raised more than £30,000 to pay for the case. Labour’s policy allows ‘self-identifying’ transgender women – those who have not legally changed from male to female – to put themselves forward for all-women shortlists.

Opponents say the policy is unfair as it means candidates just have to tick a box to say they are female, and so could lead to a man being chosen to run for a parliamentary seat ahead of a woman.

It sets the stage for another battle between Left-wing feminists and transgender activists, after leadership candidates were asked to sign a pledge that called a women’s rights organisation a ‘hate group’.

In a statement on the Keep All-Women Shortlists Female campaign website, barrister Amanda Jones wrote: ‘We are seeking to challenge the Labour Party’s policy that anybody who identifies as a woman (even to the extent merely of ticking a box to say that they identify as such) can stand as a candidate on an all-women shortlist.’

Last night a Labour spokesman said: ‘Labour’s all-women shortlists have always been open to trans women so the petition is not factually accurate and the claim has no merit.’

Last week, Laura Pidcock, a former Shadow Cabinet Minister who lost her seat at the Election, came under fire from fellow Corbynites for arguing that women’s groups should be given the space to discuss how trans rights might affect women.

Writing on his personal blog, Mr Stuart also renewed his criticisms of Dawn Butler, the shadow Equalities Minister.

The two were last year embroiled in a bizarre row when Stuart ridiculed Butler’s claims that most male giraffes are gay, something she said justified gay equality laws.

During the General Election campaign last year, Ms Butler was one of several senior figures who criticised the party’s official position on trans rights and equality law, which activists described as transphobic.

Mr Stuart revealed that in a private meeting to agree policies before the Election, Butler had voted for the very policies she later criticised.

He said: ‘Dawn, who held the portfolio responsibility and had to respond to all the proposed amendments… And Dawn just said, “Agreed”.’